Global Health: Work Health Safety Assessment of Chemical Industry

This report assesses work health and safety (WHS) in the chemical industry, focusing on occupational health, risk assessment, and the obligations of businesses in Australia. It identifies various hazardous chemical agents and their potential health effects on employees, including skin irritation, chronic lung diseases, and cancers. The report emphasizes the essentiality of risk assessment in preventing workplace injuries and illnesses, highlighting the need for control programs and compliance with legal requirements. Recommendations include providing information on chemical hazards, substituting hazardous substances, separating workers from hazards, implementing physical measures to minimize contamination, and providing personal protective equipment. The report concludes with a call for effective ventilation systems and safe work practices to protect employees' health and safety.

Work Health Safety Assessment
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Occupational health.........................................................................................................................3
Obligation of work health & safety for the business in Australia...................................................4
Risk assessment...............................................................................................................................5
Essentiality of risk assessment.........................................................................................................6
Conclusion and Recommendation...................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................8
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Introduction
Workplace health and safety (WHS) which is also termed as Occupational Health and Safety
(OH&S) possess the assessment as well as mitigation of the risk which might influence the
safety, health, and welfare of the one who works in the workplace (Srinivasan & Nhan, 2007).
This includes the safety and health of customers, employees, contractors, volunteers, and
suppliers. Prior to 2012, the Workplace health and safety laws were regarded as the Occupational
Health and Safety (OH&S) laws and differs across Australian states and territories. The state and
territory governments in the year 2012 had made an agreement to make a development of the
model laws which can assists them in providing base to their health and safety laws.
Furthermore, the work health and safety assessments are useful as it determines the risk which is
associated with the health and safety of the workers (Khan & Abbasi, 2008). This report will take
into consideration the chemical industry which is the workplace of my friend.
Occupational Health
Occupational health is a multidisciplinary procedure which has an aim to protect and promote the
health of the workers by the prevention and control of the occupational diseases and by the
elimination of the factors of occupation and also the condition which is harmful to the health and
safety at the work. it also develops and promote healthy and safe work and is associated with
work organization and environment (Koller, Fischer & Hungerbühler, 2000). Occupational
health assists in the improvement of the social, mental and physical well-being of the workers
and also gives maintenances in the development and preservation of the working capacity. It also
enables the workers so as to make conduction of the economic and social lives of productivity
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and also helps in positive development in a sustainable manner. Work health has changed from
mono-disciplinary and risk associated risks to a multi-disciplinary approach which help in
considering the physical, mental and also social health and development of an individual. The
employers and the self-employed people possess a duty in the safety and health law so as to
evaluate the risks in the workplace (Khan & Abbasi, 2008). The assessment of the risk makes the
basis of the safety statements which is needed in each of the workplaces. Taking in consideration
of the chemical industries, the safety, health, and welfare at work regulation 2001 have gratified
the employers and other self-employed persons in order to assess the threats which come from
the usage of the chemicals prevailing in the workplaces.
The obligation of Work Health & Safety for the Business in Australia
It is the legal responsibilities of the business owners so as to implement the safety and health
practices in the workplaces. It is necessary to ensure that business doesn’t result in any sorts of
health and safety issues for the employees, volunteers, contractors, public and also visitors. The
acknowledgment of the WHS laws and the way of applying that law in business helps in
escaping unnecessary damages and costs in the business which is caused due to illness and injury
of the members of the workplace (Koller, Fischer & Hungerbühler, 2000). As per the Australian
WHS legislation, businesses are obliged legally so as to provide the work premises in a safer
manner. It also reviews the risks and makes the implementation of the measures so as to control
the issues and ensure the safer usage of the goods and substances. As per the Australian
legislation law, the organization should provide safety machine and materials and get access to
the workplace and serve a safer system of the work. It also states to provide suitable work
environment and facilities and have worker’s compensation insurance for the employees
(Wenham, 2002).
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Risk Assessment
Risk assessment is the examination of the workplace which could hamper the people and also
determine the precautions required to prevent the harms. The main motive is to safeguard the
accident and work related to health in the workplace (Van Leeuwen & Vermeire, 2007). The risk
assessment helps in providing detailed roadmap so as to assist and manage the safety and health
in the workplace. It was analyzed and assessed that the chemical industry had various hazardous
chemical agents. The various chemical agents include the materials which are brought in the
workplace and is handled and stored at the time of processing such as raw materials, cleaning
agents, glues, resins, and paints (Roach, 2004). The chemical industry also possesses substances
which are generated at the time of process or at the activity of working such as dust which comes
out from the machining of wood, welding, and dust coming out from quarrying and also vapors
coming from the painting. Thus, it was analyzed from the chemical industry that there are
various chemical agents who are hazardous and can cause severe harm to the health and safety of
the employees. It was analyzed that there are various effects of the hazardous chemical at the
chemical workplace. If the exposure is not controlled effectively and properly then it can lead to
serious illness and also death. There are various effects of the chemicals which might have
immediate or long term effects such as mild irritation of eyes and also chronic diseases of the
lungs (Wenham, 2002). It was reviewed that chemical also leads to asthma, dermatitis, skin
burns, occurring of cancers, etc. it is further analyzed that many of the employees in the chemical
industry have faced issues due to harmful gases of the chemical and lack of effective ventilation
systems.
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Essentiality of Risk Assessment
Risk assessments are very essential as they lead to an integral part of the work health and plan of
safety management. It helps in the creation of awareness regarding the risk and hazards
prevailing in the chemical industry and also identifies the characters that might be at risk (Van
Leeuwen & Vermeire, 2007). Risk assessment is also helpful in determining if the control
program is needed and applied for the specified hazards. Apart from the above, it is also
reviewed that risk assessment in the chemical industry is essential so as to prevent illnesses and
injuries at the time of the planning and designing stage. It further priories the hazards of the
chemicals and review the controlling measures and meet the legal requirement (Roach, 2004).
Since the aim of the risk assessment is to evaluate the hazards and remove the hazards by adding
some of the control measures so risk assessment in the chemical industry helps in reviewing
about the raw materials and consider people who are affected by the hazards. The vulnerable
people who suffered from risks include plant operators, maintenance workers, contractors,
visitors and also cleaners (Srinivasan & Nhan, 2007).
Conclusion and Recommendation
It is analyzed that the chemical industry possesses various hazards which could disturb the health
and safety of the employees working in these sectors. Employees face lots of issues while
working in these industries as chemical agents are very hazardous. The employees or workers are
seen suffering from various issues such as asthma, skin burning, dermatitis, the occurrence of
cancer, etc. The assessing of the risk from the hazardous chemical agents is very essential as it
helps in identifying the issues and controlling them. The company should make the usage of
various safety measures so as to safeguards its employees from different sorts of issues related to
the health and safety of the employees.
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It is recommended that information on the health hazards is found on the packaging label and
might also be achieved from the safety data sheets and also from the suppliers. The information
regarding the chemical is very essential as it helps in acknowledging the hazardous behavior of
the substances. It is suggested that user data should be made available from internet sources also.
Moreover, the duration and occurrence of the exposure and concentration of the substances are
involved. It is also recommended that one should eliminate the change of the process so that
none of the hazardous substance is applied or is generated. The chemical industry should
substitute or replace hazardous chemicals and the environment with a safer alternative. The
separation of the workers from hazardous substances is also required practices in the chemical
industry as it can safeguard the employee’s health and security. It is also equally important for
the chemical industry to make the usage of the physical measures so as to minimize the
contamination of the workplace which includes extraction of the source by local exhaust
ventilation. The usage of the safer practices of work and procedures also helps in minimizing the
contamination and provides effective hygiene procedures. This industry should also provide
personal protective equipment to its employees so as to safeguard them from various chemical
hazards. Gloves, face-masks, protective clothing is some of the safeguard equipment’s which
should be given to the employees so as to protect them. It is mostly analyzed that most of the
employees face difficulties in breathing while working in a chemical industry so effective
ventilation should be made so that strong smell and vapor goes away from it.
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References
Khan, F.I. & Abbasi, S.A. (2008), Techniques and methodologies for risk analysis in chemical
process industries. J. Loss Prev. Proc. Ind. 11 (4), 261-277.
Koller, G., Fischer, U. & Hungerbühler, K. (2000), Assessing Safety, Health, and Environmental
Impact Early during Process Development, Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research 39 (4),
960-972.
Roach, S.A. (2004), On assessment of hazards to health at work. Indian Hygiene Association
Journal, 55 (12), 1125-1130.
Srinivasan, R. & Nhan, N.T. (2007), A statistical approach for evaluating inherent benign-ness of
chemical process routes in early design stages, Process Safety and Environmental Protection,86
(3), 163-174.
Van Leeuwen, C.J. & Vermeire, T.G. (2007), Risk assessment of chemicals: An Introduction,
Springer Science & Business Media, Netherlands
Wenham, D. (2002), Occupational health and safety management course module, Centre for
Hazard and Risk Management (CHaRM). Loughborough, United Kingdom.
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